Regulator imposes fines of Tk 66.3m for stock price manipulation

 The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has imposed fines worth Tk 66.3 million on seven individuals, including Md. Abul Khayer, and two companies, for manipulating the stock price of NRB Commercial Bank.

It penalized two more individuals with fines of Tk 2.0 million for manipulating the stock price of Orion Pharma.

The punishments were delivered upon completion of hearings based on investigations conducted by the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

As per the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969, no one is allowed to create a false appearance of active trading to influence a stock price directly or indirectly through a series of transactions.

According to DSE findings, Md. Abul Khair and his associates traded in 53.38 per cent shares of NRB Commercial Bank between October 07 and October 27, 2021 to influence the stock price. By doing so, they realised a capital gain worth Tk 58.15 million.

They also had an aggregate amount of unrealised gains worth Tk 119.35 million from the stock trading.

Mr Khayer has been fined Tk 23 million.

Another individual, Md. Abul Kalam Matbar traded in 22.54 per cent shares of the same bank during the same period and realised Tk 46 million in capital gains while his unrealised gains amounted to Tk 19.06 million.

Mr Matbar has been fined Tk 41.5 million for influencing the stock price of NRB Commercial Bank.

Two companies -- Monarch Holdings and DIT Co-Operative -- have also been fined Tk 0.1 million and Tk 1.2 million respectively over the same alleged misconduct.

The securities regulator has also slammed penalties of Tk 2.0 million at Nabil Naba Foods and Nabil Feed Mills for their involvements in manipulating the stock price of Orion Pharma between September 21 and October 10, 2021.

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